Google For Medical Transcriptionists Only! Pink Page!

Terms of Service Violation Message

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:31:04 PDT

Some Googleformt users are complaining that when they log in to search, they see a Terms of Service violation notice.

I'd be glad if you all let me know through comments or email if you too are getting the same notice. I am working on it. Probably a new cool template soon.

Some things to note

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Sun, 24 May 2009 20:14:24 PDT

No, I am not exclusively going to Twitter. I just want to learn what Twitter is and how having a lot of friends there can make a difference.

About the AHDI MedQuist controversy and any other suit filed against MedQuist - I am not aware of a newer suit filed against MedQuist. If someone knows about such a suit filed against MedQuist, please let me know. Until then I'd like to maintain what I said previously about the MedQuist class action settlement.

Googleformt on Twitter

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:29:54 PDT

GoogleForMT is on Twitter folks as I told you earlier. Join me there, takes a few seconds only. Here is my Twitter link - GoogleforMT Twitter Pink Page.

Come on now!

What Happened to your money that AHDI received from MedQuist?

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:15:11 PDT

Show me the money!!

If you worked for MedQuist from November 29, 1998 to August 11, 2008 and got paid per line, you are supposed to get back some money Medquist pinched from you. It is your money after all. And MedQuist has paid up. But are you getting any money?

Yeah, I am talking about the MedQuist Class Action Settlement.

Oh wait! There is something in it for you. You get a free one-year individual AHDI membership or (not and!!) free one-year subscription to AHDI's web-based knowledge base and information portal, or (not and!!) free registration for up to five online AHDI educational webinars or free registration for one credentialing prep course and one specialty online educational course or free AHDI educational CD product bundle.

Aren't you glad MedQuist pinched your money? :-)

And wait, you gotta rush if you want to avail them cuz they are on a first-come, first-served basis only.

Who appointed AHDI to administer your benefits in the first place? That's a lot of money, are they going to spend it on free one-year memberships? That sucks.

MedQuist went to bed with AHDI? May be. May be not.

Join Me on Twitter

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:20:01 PDT

Let me admit something outright - I don't know what Twitter really is and what it does. Created an account on twitter just cuz it's making quite a buzz on the internet . So here it goes

My Twitter Link

You can follow me there if you want to. Takes only a few seconds.

I'll follow anyone who follows me! That's the trade-off!

New Drugs

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:13:19 PDT

Creon (pancrelipase) delayed-release capsules by Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Creon treats pancreatic exocrine dysfunction. Pancrelipase is basically a pancreatic enzyme preparation used in the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (or EPI) due to cystic fibrosis or other conditions.

Exforge HCT (amlodipine, valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide) tablets by Novartis AG for the treatment of hypertension. It is basically a combination of amlodipine, valsartan, and hydrochlorothiazide. By the way, this is the first time that they made a single pill that contains all those three together!

Dysport (abobotulinumtoxinA) by Medicis and Ipsen for the treatment of cervical dystonia and glabellar lines. They are calling it a Botox competitor.

Simponi (golimumab) injection by Centocor, Inc to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis. This is a once a month medication.

Coartem (artemether and lumefantrine) tablets by Novartis for malaria.

Ixiaro (Japanese Encephalitis Virus Vaccine, Inactivated, Adsorbed) for Japanese Encephalitis Virus Prophylaxis. This is being made by Intercell.

Afinitor (everolimus) tablets for renal cell carcinoma.

Edluar (zolpidem) sublingual tablets by Orexo and Meda AB for insomnia. It was formerly called Sublinox.

Uloric (febuxostat) Tablets by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for gout.

ATryn (Antithrombin (Recombinant)) by GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc for antithrombin III deficiency.

Vectical (calcitriol) Ointment by Galderma Laboratories, L.P. for psoriasis.

Kapidex (dexlansoprazole) delayed release capsules, formerly known as TAK-390MR, also by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for erosive esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Gelnique (oxybutynin hydrochloride) Topical Gel, formerly called OTG by Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the treatment of overactive bladder.

RiaSTAP (Fibrinogen Concentrate (Human)) by CSL Behring for the treatment of congenital fibrinogen deficiency.

Savella (milnacipran) by Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Cypress Bioscience, Inc. to treat fibromyalgia.

AllerNaze (triamcinolone acetonide) Nasal Spray by Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. for seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis.

Epiduo (adapalene and benzoyl peroxide) Gel by Galderma Laboratories, L.P. for acne.

Nexterone (amiodarone HCl) Injection by Prism Pharmaceuticals for ventricular fibrillation, ventricular fachycardia.

Ryzolt (tramadol) extended release tablets by Labopharm Inc. for pain.

Medquist Dismisses Medical Transcriptionist Class Action

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:36:37 PDT

It's sort of a news post but clearly that's not the intention.

There was this medical transcriptionist class action suit against MedQuist which MedQuist seems to have won. Following are some excerpts from the settlement

On March 31, 2009 the united states district court for the district of new jersey entered final judgment approving settlement in the medical transcriptionist consolidated class action and dismissing the case with prejudice.

If you are a medical transcriptionist who transcribed work for MedQuist at any time during the period from November 29, 1998, to august 11, 2008, were paid on a line-based unit of measure for your work, and did not request to be excluded from the settlement, you are a member of the settlement class.

They are, however, shelling out $1.5 million, out of which $1.1 million goes to Association for Healthcare Document Integrity or AHDI which was formerly known as AAMT.

Has anyone worked for MedQuist between 1998 to 2008? If yes and you did not request to be excluded from the settlement, do you think you'll get any compensation?

On Dot Com Bust, Offshoring, and Economic Recession

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:14:15 PDT

[long post]

For an experienced medical transcriptionist, the current economic downturn could be reminiscent of the dot com bust that happened almost 10 years ago. The mood was quite grim at the time, like it is now.

The dot com bust, however, didn’t affect medical transcription in any way and most medical transcriptionists had jobs or work as usual. Medical transcriptionists at the time were worried about something else - offshoring.

Offshore MTs were cheap, allocating work to them was a no-brainer, and they worked when the transcriptionists in the US were sleeping. But after almost 20 years of transcription being outsourced to countries like India or Philippines, some people are beginning to think otherwise. Some of those people have worked in a capacity that involves working in tandem with or mentoring offshore medical transcriptionists. So all is not gloomy about offshore transcription.

Offshore MTs do a lot of ESL dictator transcription. ESL dictators, for those who don’t know, are dictators with English as a second language, like Hispanic or Asian dictators. In a way, this has allowed for a lot of “cherry picking” among MTs in the US. What is cherry picking? Well, cherry picking means picking up clear and nice dictators with high line per minute ratios and keeping them for yourself and allocating all the crappy ones (ESL) to offshore partners in Bangalore or Manila. Working only on high-paying stat jobs without worrying about the 24-hour TAT jobs is another benefit that one can think of. But is there enough work to go around that offshoring to India or Philippines or China can be justified to begin with?

Millions of aging baby boomers with enough resources to seek good treatment for their illnesses (which include lifestyle disorders, such as obesity, diabetes, heart diseases) are waiting to barge into hospitals in the next decade or two. More number of patients means more dictation. By the way, many medical transcriptionists are baby boomers themselves. If you put logic to use, basically what we are going to be facing in the future is more transcription work but fewer transcriptionists available to do that work. So may be we’ll need technology to assist us.

Voice recognition has been a flop so far. It’s not that voice recognition or speech recognition is all bad. It has already largely replaced a certain part of many medical transcriptionists’ work called “typing”. Most organizations route their clients’ dictations through voice or speech recognition engines. The engine then automatically transcribes the dictation, does a terrible job of it, and the transcript then is passed over to the transcriptionist who “edits” it. The term medical transcriptionist thus is slowly becoming redundant being replaced by the more intellectually appealing “medical language specialist”. But voice recognition is never going to completely replace the original, no-nonsense, highly resourceful, genuinely intelligent medical transcriptionist. Nuff said.

A few days ago I had asked a question from people: Do you think that the current economic recession will affect medical transcription in anyway?

I received a few emails and half of them said that it could. An interesting email came from Teresa Thomsen. She said

In answer to your question, will the current economic crisis impact transcription lines available to medical transcriptionists now working in the field: I think not. Medical transcription requires specialized skills that one cannot "pick up" at will. This may have been the case 30 years ago, but it is certainly not the norm now. Because of the formal training that is required to succeed at medical transcription, by the time people acquire the skills to work in our industry the crisis would/should be resolving. Current schools for medical transcription require 12 to 18 months of instruction. In a nutshell, I think we're safe.

So the takeaway of this rant is that medical transcriptionists don’t have to be down in the dumps about the recession in economy. Outsourcing, voice recognition, dot com busts. We have seen it all.

Speech Recognition and Medical Transcription

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:51:10 PST

I may not be the only one who is not a great admirer of the value speech recognition currently provides to medical transcription. Brenda J. Hurley, CMT, argues about how useful speech recognition (or SR) actually is for us medical transcriptionists. Will update this post with more thoughts.

Will Economic Recession Impact Medical Transcription?

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:02:10 PST

Take a minute out today and think.

The credit crunch, as we all know, is a sad story. Its a downward spiral. With the economy going down, you tend to save money. Or you stop buying fancy goods or services. Which in turn results in increasingly lesser sales of products, goods or services. Which in turn leads to cutting of costs and downsizing in the industries associated with those products, goods or services. Which in turn leads to even more saving money by more and more people who have lost jobs or fear that they would. It can turn into something really scary sometimes.

Look what this dependable geek predicts about internet and economy in 2009.

Health and education are two industries which are more recession proof than other industries. Why? Because both are taken care of by the government to a large extent. But a large exodus of people from other industries means more resources available for medical transcription. Those resources or people recently fired from other jobs would join medical transcription in huge numbers. More people would compete for the same number of transcription lines.

Keeping that in mind, do you think economic recession would impact medical transcription negatively?

Do write a comment here or share with me on e-mail.

New Drugs for 2009

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:29:31 PST

Keep an ear out for these new drugs.

Nexterone (amiodarone HCl) Injection for the treatment of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.

Ryzolt (tramadol) extended release tablets for the treatment of severe chronic pain in adults on full-time treatment of their pain for a long time.

Latisse (bimatoprost) Ophthalmic Solution for the treatment of hypotrichosis of eyelashes.

Degarelix for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Vasovist (gadofosveset trisodium) for diagnostic purposes. It was previously known as MS-325.

ZolpiMist (zolpidem tartrate) oral spray for the treatment of insomnia.

Oral Fludarabine (fludarabine phosphate) tablets for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Mozobil (plerixafor) for the treatment of bone marrow transplantation.

Trilipix (fenofibric acid) delayed-release capsules for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia or hyperlipidemia.

Lusedra (fospropofol disodium) injection for sedation. Previously known as Aquavan.

SCE-A (Synthetic Conjugated Estrogens-A) Vaginal Cream for postmenopausal symptoms. It was previously called Bijuva.

Tapentadol Immediate Release Tablets for the treatment of acute pain.

Promacta (eltrombopag) Tablets for the treatment of idiopathic (immune) thrombocytopenic purpura.

Banzel (rufinamide) Tablets for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome.

Apriso (mesalamine) Extended-Release Capsules for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.

Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate) Extended Release Tablets for the treatment of urinary frequency.

LoSeasonique (ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel) Extended-Cycle Oral Contraceptive Tablets for contraception. LoSeasonique an oral contraceptive.

Acanya (benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin phosphate) Topical Gel for the treatment of acne.

Astepro (azelastine) Nasal Spray for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

Happy New Year!!!

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:07:19 PST

Wish you a very happy new year!!!

Most MTs worked hard in December too. In the Poll, most MTs touched the 20,000 or less button.

Broken UPIN Link

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:46:05 PST

The broken UPIN link has been removed by the way. And with serious apologies. Some of you were complaining about it but I have become lazy I guess. Will search for better links now. Loads of New Drugs are coming your way soon. Also, a small quiz.

Long Time, No See!!!

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:36:37 PST

Overheard in New York: Looks like OldMT is busy mapping the pig genome.

OldMT: I transcribe too folks!! Happy Thanksgiving by the way (belated)!!!

Happy Holidays, just in case!!!

PrandiMet for Diabetes Mellitus Type II

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:56:38 PDT

PrandiMet, repaglinide and metformin HCl, is a fixed-dose combination of Prandin (repaglinide) and metformin and is indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Manufactured and marketed by Novo Nordisk and Sciele Pharma, Inc. respectively, PrandiMet is the first and only fixed-dose combination of replaglinide and metformin for the treatment of diabetes mellitus type II.

The combination of repaglinide and metformin has been shown to safely and effectively reduce hemoglobin A1c levels - a combination offered by PrandiMet.

Sciele Pharma anticipates that PrandiMet will be available in the second half of 2008.

Related - New Drugs

Durezol for Postoperative Ocular Inflammation and Pain

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:03:31 PDT

Sirion Therapeutics, Inc., announced on June 24, 2008 that FDA has approved its new drug Durezol for the treatment of postoperative ocular inflammation and pain.

Durezol is generically difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion. A topical steroid, Durezol is a difluorinated derivative of prednisolone and has potent anti-inflammatory activity.

Related - New Drugs

Kinrix for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis and Polio Diseases in Children

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:47:16 PDT

Kinrix is a combination vaccine. Actually, Kinrix is the first combination vaccine to offer protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio diseases in one shot. This means fewer vaccine shots for children, as recommended by health experts.

Kinrix has been manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

Kinrix is approved for children 4 to 6 years of age whose previous DTAP vaccinations have been with PEDIARIX and/or INFANRIX.

Related - New Drugs

Trivaris for Ocular Inflammatory Conditions

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:40:49 PDT

Next up in the New Drugs series here at Googleformt, a medical transcription search engine.

Today's new drug is Trivaris Intravitreal injection. Generically triamcinolone acetonide, Trivaris is a glucocorticoid corticosteroid which is delivered by an intravitreal injection to treat temporal arteritis, uveitis, sympathetic ophthalmia, and ocular inflammatory conditions. Especially those that are unresponsive to topical corticosteroids.

Trivaris is manufactured by Allergan.

Entereg for Postoperative Ileus

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:28:21 PDT

Continuing the New Drug series here at Googleformt. Today's new drug is Entereg.

Entereg has been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help patients regain their gastrointestinal function after a bowel resection procedure. The condition known as postoperative ileus affects patients who have undergone this procedure and causes discomfort and prolonged hospital stay.

Generic name for this brand is alvimopan. Entereg is prescribed to speed up lower and upper GI (gastrointestinal) recovery postoperatively. Manufactured by Adolor Corporation and GlaxoSmithKline, Entereg will be available for short-term use in hospitals that are registered for the program called Entereg Access Support and Education program (E.A.S.E.).

Expresso or ExpresSew suture passer ?

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:04:01 PST

Have you tried searching for a suture passer which sounds like Expresso or Espresso? Well, I did. And frankly, I was giving up on the search thinking the dictator was having a bad day when I accidentally bumped into this site. Its a Johnson and Johnson product and manufactured by DePuy Mitek, a company owned by Johnson and Johnson. So remember if you are searching for something which sounds like Expresso suture passer or Espresso suture passer, it could very well be ExpresSew Suture Passer. Apart from this product, that is the ExpresSew Suture Passer device, DePuy Mitek manufactures several other products and it would be worth your while to take a look.

Picture from

Intelence for HIV-1

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:53:43 PDT

Next up in the Googleformt New Drug series.

The pharma company Tibotec has come up with a new drug for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) called Intelence. The generic name is etravirine which is an NNRTI. What is NNRTI? NNRTI means non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor. It is supplied in tablet form p.o. of 100 mg doses. Recommended initial dose of the drug is 200 mg.

New Drug: Azor

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:22:23 PST

Happy New Year Everyone. I hope you enjoyed the holidays.

Continuing the New Drug series here at GoogleForMT.

Today's new drug is Azor.

This new drug has been approved in September 2007 and is made by Daiichi Sankyo. Azor is a combination of olmesartan and amlodipine and is indicated for the treatment of hypertension, alone or with other antihypertensive agents.

It is supplied as p.o. tablets. The drug dosage is amlodipine/olmesartan 5/20 mg, 5/40 mg, 10/20 mg, 10/40 mg. Maximum recommended dosage is 10/40 mg.

Happy Halloween!

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:19:09 PDT

Wish you all a very Happy Halloween!

George Clooney's Medical Information Leaked

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:04:02 PST

Picture By

Most women here must already know that George Clooney suffered injuries in a motorcycle accident a few weeks ago when his bike collided with another vehicle.

The 46-year-old suffered road rash and a broken rib. The companion riding with him suffered a broken foot.

Now CBS2HD has learned that as much as 27 employees of the Palisades Medical Center (where Clooney received treatment for the injuries) have been suspended for accesssing Clooney's confidential medical information and leaking it to the press.

The suspension obviously has been made in accordance with HIPAA laws but George Clooney is not too happy about the suspension and wishes the matter was dealt with without suspending medical workers.

A grim reminder that they do take HIPAA seriously.

So You Are Confused About Your Body Type

bloggermt@gmail.com (GoogleforMT) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:04:02 PST

And BMI is nothing more than a number you cannot seem to remember?

And you don't know what obese looks like, exactly how morbid is a morbidly obese person, and how super skinny is an underweight woman? Well, check the pictures of these women (may be some men) and you'll know in a jiffy! A picture is worth a thousand words!

Hat Tip: Kevin M.D. (My favorite blogger)